Michael DeMocker/The Times-PicayuneLSU coach Les Miles can turn his attention back to the season opener against Oregon now that Jordan Jefferson and Josh Johns have been suspended indefinitely after their arrests Friday.

It's been derailed for more than a week, shoved there by curfew violations and a bar fight, weighed down by looming arrest warrants on second-degree battery charges that finally were issued Friday, for Jordan Jefferson and Josh Johns.

The starting quarterback, Jefferson, and reserve linebacker, Johns, have been suspended indefinitely, the only thing Miles possibly could do after Baton Rouge police determined there was enough evidence to issue the warrants.

"We will continue to cooperate with the authorities in an effort to find out exactly what took place during the incident," Miles said in a statement released by LSU on Friday morning.

"As sad as this incident is, it's important that we learn from this and that we take away a valuable lesson. This has weighed on all of us. It's time for us to come together as a team and focus on what we are here to do."

Jordan Jefferson arrest

As callous as it sounds, focusing should be easier now that Jefferson and Johns have been suspended.

Sure, frontier-justice types promoted the theory that Jefferson, Johns and the other two players (Chris Davenport and Jarvis Landry) accused of being directly involved in the fight should've been suspended as soon as their names were linked to the fracas. In their view, the mere revealing of identities was such a colossal smear, that the players should've been suspended.

But Miles' caution was warranted, and right.

Due process has to trump rumors and innuendo. Allowing the police to carry out a portion of the investigation - at least, enough of it to believe there's evidence and testimony to support the charges - wasn't in any way a sign of weakness or an attempt to keep intact his team's best chance to win.

Unless through his own investigation the coach knew his quarterback and linebacker had done more than break curfew, or Jefferson and Johns voluntarily admitted to him they were more seriously involved than they let on, then Miles couldn't very well punish them more severely than he punished other players who violated curfew eight days ago.

The best thing Miles could do, the only thing he could do and the right thing to do was to suspend Jefferson and Johns.

"Today is a sad day for the city of Baton Rouge," Baton Rouge Police Department Chief Dewayne White said Friday in a prepared statement. "Today is a sad day for Louisiana State University, the LSU alumni and the countless fans who follow the Tiger football program. It's also a sad day for the Baton Rouge Police Department."

It wasn't the best day for Jefferson and Johns, either.

Yes, Jefferson, who is 20-7 as a starter at LSU and who probably gives LSU its best chance to win the BCS championship this season, and Johns are innocent until proven guilty. But today, those two should be more concerned with the possibility of going to jail than with football.

And their teammates, finally, will be allowed to concentrate solely on their preparation for the season.

Frankly, this distraction already has taken a huge toll on the program and the players, and not because the investigation unreasonably dragged on.

Arrests of LSU players, in Baton Rouge, can't be whimsical actions of the police department. Rather, it probably is the opposite: Knowing how charges against LSU players will play out in the community prior to a season that could result in a championship, police are more likely to error on the side of caution than to prematurely react.

But the alleged actions, and the corresponding caution, have combined to cast a shadow over this season. They already have forced players who weren't on the scene and didn't break curfew to defend themselves, their teammates, their program, their coach.

The Tigers are a week away from playing Oregon, but before they travel to Dallas, it feels like their pursuit of a title is shaken at best, unraveling at worst. And that's not a poke at Jarrett Lee, who's next in line at quarterback behind Jefferson.

The team's concentration has been affected, which means its preparation has been compromised, too. A distraction this size can't be confined and ignored.

LSU has been a national story since last Friday for all the wrong reasons, the target of barbs because of the kind of trouble that only seems to occur at 1:30 a.m., and just so happened to occur while LSU players were breaking curfew.

Now, with the suspension of Jefferson and Johns, Miles can try to get things back on track. The absences won't help, especially the absence of Jefferson. But at least the Tigers can move on.